fo'  s0jK      (Oa 
/  ' 


ff 


^/4&isi&ri<4 


The  De  Vinne  Press  certifies  that 
this  copy  is  one  of  an  edition 
of  five  hundred  copies  printed 
on  antique  laid  paper  in  the 
month  of  November,  1895. 


Copyright,  1895,  by 
GEORGE  H.  RICHMOND  &  Co. 


HENRY  MORSE  STEPHENS 


Qtofc 


the  28tb  and  29tb  days 
of  May,  1588,  the  Invin- 
cible ^Armada  set  sail  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Tagus  under  tbe 
command  of  the  T)uke  of  Me- 
dina Sidonia,  to  conquer  Eng- 
land, dethrone  Elizabeth,  and 
restore  tbe  Apostolic  Roman 
Catholic  faith.  It  met  con- 
trary winds,  and  was  driven 
back  to  Spain.  A  second  time 
it  put  for tb,  and  on  July  22d 
sailed  from  Corunna.  In  eight 


Vlll 


days  a  favour  able  wind  brought 
the  SAN  MARTIN,  the  flagship, 
which  had  lagged  behind  to 
guard  the  slowest  vessels,  in 
sight  of  the  English  coast.  On 
Julyjist,  Howard  and  "Drake 
attacked  the  Spanish  fleet; 
from  that  day  on  there  was  a 
constant  running  fight  up  the 
Channel  to  Calais,  where  the 
Spaniards  anchored  on  c/lu- 
gust  6tb.  The  Armada's  plan 
was  to  protect  the  Prince  of 
Tarma  and  bis  army  during 
the  passage  of  their  transport 
boats  from  ^Dunkirk  to  Eng- 
land. On  the  8tb,  the  English 
fleet  forced  the  fighting  and 
won  a  complete  victory.  On 


IX 


the  9tb,  the  broken  Armada 
was  flying  from  the  English  up 
the  North  Sea,  hoping  to  escape 
by  doubling  the  north  ends 
of  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and 
out  into  the  Atlantic,  and 
so  homeward  to  Spain.  Mr. 
Froude  has  given  a  brilliant 
description  of  these  events  in 
"  The  Spanish  Story  of  the 
t/lrmada."  His  essay  does  not 
pretend  to  be  the  result  of  any 
original  investigation;  it  is 
wholly  taken  from  a  book  en- 
titled fc  La  c/Irmada  Invenci- 
ble,"  published  in  Madrid  in 
1885  by  El  Capitan  Cesdreo 
Fernandez  T)uro.  This  book 
is  mainly  a  compilation  of 


X 


various  documents,  such  as 
letters  from  the  "Duke  of  Me- 
dina Sidonia  to  Tbilip  II., 
preserved  in  the  Spanish  ar- 
chives and  not  before  pub- 
lished, t/lmong  these  docu- 
ments is  the  following  letter 
from  Captain  Cuettar,  one  of 
the  officers  in  the  </lrmada,  to 
"Philip  II.  In  bis  narrative 
Froude  gives  an  abridgment 
of  it,  but  the  letter  seems  wor- 
thy to  be  read  at  length. 


twritfen  6 

II. 


<Btter  written  on£)cfo8er4',1589, 
n  Cueffotr  o 

to 

ift|>  II, 

in  3tefanb  anb  ef0ct»0ere 
of  $ 


I  BELIEVE  that  your  Majesty 
will  be  surprised  at  seeing 
this  letter  on  account  of  the  lit- 
tle certainty  which  you  could 
have  had  that  I  was  alive, 
and  I  write  that  your  Ma- 
jesty may  be  sure  of  that,  and 
somewhat  at  length.  There  is 
excuse  enough  that  this  letter 


JJpcwiefJ  ®rmafca  £racf  0. 


should  be  long,  because  of 
the  very  great  hardships  and 
misfortunes  that  I  have  under- 
gone since  the  Armada  sailed 
from  Lisbon  for  England, 
from  which  God  in  His  Infi- 
nite Mercy  has  delivered  me. 
As  I  have  found  no  opportu- 
nity for  more  than  a  year  to 
write  to  your  Majesty,  I  have 
not  done  so  until  now  that  God 
has  brought  me  to  this  land  of 
Flanders,  whither  I  came  may 
be  twelve  days  ago  in  com- 
pany with  the  Spaniards 
who  escaped  from  the  ships 
that  were  wrecked  off  Ire- 
land, Scotland,  and  Shetland. 
There  were  more  than  twen- 


feetter  of  Capf am  €ueffar 


ty  of  them,  the  largest  in 
the  fleet,  and  on  board  was 
much  of  the  choicest  infantry, 
captains,  ancients,  colonels, 
and  other  officers,  also  many 
gentlemen  and  persons  of 
quality ;  and  out  of  them  all 
-and  there  were  more  than 
two  hundred  —  not  five  es- 
caped all  told.  Some  were 
drowned  and  the  rest  who 
were  able  to  swim  ashore 
were  killed  by  the  English 
garrisons  which  the  Queen 
keeps  in  Ireland.  By  com- 
mitting myself  verily  to  God 
and  to  the  Holy  Virgin,  I  es- 
caped from  the  sea  and  from 
these  enemies,  together  with 


4 


three  hundred  odd  soldiers 
who  also  were  able  to  save 
themselves  and  swim  ashore. 
With  them  I  went  through 
great  misfortunes.  Barefoot 
and  naked  all  the  winter,  I 
spent  more  than  seven 
months  in  mountains  and 
woods  and  amongst  savages, 
for  in  that  part  of  Ireland 
where  we  were  wrecked  they 
are  all  such. 

It  does  not  seem  to  me 
right  to  refrain  from  telling 
your  Majesty,  nor  to  keep 
back  the  injustice  and  griev- 
ous injuries  which  some 
sought  to  do  me  so  wrong- 
fully, and  without  any  fail- 


feef  i  er  of  Capf am  £ueffar 


ure  on  my  part  to  do  what 
it  was  my  duty  to  do. 
From  this  God  delivered  me, 
though  I  was  condemned  to 
a  shameful  death,  as  your 
Majesty  knows.  For,  observ- 
ing the  severity  with  which 
orders  were  given  to  carry 
out  the  sentence,  I  demand- 
ed with  much  boldness  and 
indignation  to  know  the 
cause  why  such  injury  and 
insults  were  done  to  me, 
seeing  that  I  had  served  the 
King  as  a  good  soldier  and 
loyal  subject  on  every  occa- 
sion and  in  every  fight  which 
we  had  with  the  enemy's 
fleet,  from  which  my  galleon 


3.1 


always  came  off  having  fared 
very  ill  with  many  men  killed 
and  wounded.  I  asked  that 
a  copy  of  the  orders  should 
be  given  to  me,  and  that  in- 
quiry be  made  of  the  three 
hundred  and  fifty  men  who 
were  on  the  galleon,  and  that 
if  any  one  should  lay  blame 
on  me,  they  should  cut  me 
in  four  quarters.  They  would 
not  listen  to  me,  nor  to  many 
gentlemen  who  interceded  for 
me,  answering  that  the  Duke 
at  that  time  kept  his  cabin 
and  was  very  unhappy  and 
did  not  want  anybody  to 
speak  to  him.  For  besides 
the  ill-success  he  always  had 


feeft et  of  Captain  €uef far 


with  the  enemy,  on  the  day 
of  my  tribulation  he  had  been 
told  that  the  two  galleons, 
San  Mateo  and  San  Felipe, 
those  from  Portugal,  on  board 
which  were  two  colonels, 
Don  Francisco  de  Toledo, 
brother  to  the  Count  of  Or- 
gaz,  and  Don  Diego  Pimental, 
brother  to  the  Marquis  of  Ta- 
vara,  had  been  destroyed  and 
sunk,  and  almost  all  hands 
drowned.  For  this  reason 
the  Duke  kept  himself  in 
his  cabin,  and  his  Council- 
ors did  acts  of  injustice  right 
and  left  in  order  to  correct 
his  neglect,  disregarding  the 
lives  and  honours  of  those 


that  were  not  to  blame,  and 
that  is  so  public  that  every- 
body knows  it. 

The  galleon  San  Tedro, 
aboard  which  I  was,  sus- 
tained much  hurt  from  some 
big  cannon  balls  that  the 
enemy  shot  into  her  on  every 
side,  and  though  repairs  were 
made  immediately  as  well  as 
could  be  done,  some  hole 
still  remained  undiscovered 
and  much  water  leaked  in. 
And  after  the  hard  fight  that 
we  had  off  Calais  on  the 
eighth  of  August,  which  was 
the  last  of  all,  and  contin- 
ued from  morning  till  seven 
o'clock  at  night,  our  fleet  was 


feet  i er  of  Ckpf ain  £ueff at 


drawing  off — I  don't  know 
how  to  put  it  —  and  the  en- 
emy's fleet  was  following  at 
our  stern  to  drive  us  away 
from  the  English  coast,  and 
after  we  had  retreated  and 
were  out  of  danger — it  was 
now  the  tenth  of  August  — 
and  saw  that  the  enemy  held 
off,  some  of  our  ships  began 
making  repairs  and  patching 
their  injuries ;  and  on  that 
day,  for  my  sins,  I  was  tak- 
ing a  little  rest,  for  I  had  not 
slept  or  taken  time  to  attend 
to  the  necessities  of  life  for 
ten  days,  when  my  scoundrel 
of  a  mate,  without  saying 
anything  to  me,  hoisted  sail 


10 


3.1 


and  put  out  in  front  of  the 
Admiral's  ship  a  matter  of 
two  miles,  in  order  to  go  on 
with  our  repairs,  just  as  other 
ships  had  done,  and  just 
when  he  was  lowering  the 
sails  to  see  where  the  galleon 
leaked,  a  tender  came  along- 
side, and  word  was  given  me 
from  the  Duke  that  I  should 
go  to  the  Admiral's  ship. 
Thither  I  went,  but  before  I 
got  there,  an  order  was  given 
that  I  and  another  gentle- 
man, Don  Christobal  de  Avila, 
who  was  captain  of  a  victu- 
aler  that  had  gone  much  fur- 
ther ahead  than  my  galleon, 
should  be  put  to  death  in  dis- 


&ef  i er  of  Captain  Cueffar  1 1 

grace.  When  I  heard  this  se- 
vere sentence  I  thought  to 
burst  into  a  passion,  asking 
all  to  bear  witness  to  the 
gross  injustice  that  was  done 
me,  since  I  had  served  so 
well,  as  could  be  seen  by 
written  proofs.  Of  all  this, 
the  Duke  heard  nothing,  for 
he  was,  as  I  say,  shut  up 
in  his  cabin.  My  lord  Don 
Francisco  de  Bovadilla  was 
the  only  one  who  gave  or- 
ders on  board  the  fleet,  and 
everything  was  directed  by 
him  and  some  others,  and 
their  doings  are  well  known. 
He  commanded  me  to  be 
brought  to  the  Judge  Advo- 


12          J5pcwt60  $rmafca  $racf 0.  (fto.  1 

cate's  ship  in  order  that  what- 
ever he  saw  fit  should  be 
inflicted  upon  me.  Thither  I 
went,  and  although  the  Judge 
Advocate,  Martin  de  Aranda, 
for  that  was  his  name,  was 
severe,  he  listened  to  me  and 
made  inquiry  about  me  in 
secret  and  found  that  I  had 
served  your  Majesty  like  a 
good  soldier,  and  therefore 
he  did  not  dare  to  execute 
upon  me  the  order  that  he 
had  received.  He  wrote  to 
the  Duke  about  it,  and  said 
that  unless  he  received  orders 
from  him  in  writing  signed 
by  his  own  hand  he  would 
not  execute  the  sentence,  be- 


feetter  of  £apf  ain  Cueffar  1 3 

cause  he  saw  that  there  was 
no  cause  for  it,  and  that  I  was 
guilty  of  nothing.  And  to- 
gether with  his,  I  wrote  a  let- 
ter to  the  Duke  which  made 
him  think  well  of  the  mat- 
ter, and  he  sent  answer  to 
the  Judge  Advocate  that  he 
should  not  execute  the  sen- 
tence upon  me,  but  upon 
Don  Christobal,  whom  they 
hanged  with  great  cruelty  and 
insult,  considering  that  he 
was  a  gentleman  and  known 
to  many.  God  was  pleased 
to  deliver  me  on  account  of 
my  innocence,  which  your 
Majesty  can  readily  learn  or 
will  have  learned  from  many 


1  4 


persons  who  were  witnesses 
of  it.  The  Judge  Advocate 
always  showed  me  much 
kindness.  I  stayed  aboard 
his  ship,  in  which  we  under- 
went all  the  terrors  of  death; 
for  from  the  storm  that  sprang 
up  it  leaked  so  much  that  it 
was  full  of  water  all  the  time, 
and  we  could  not  keep  it 
pumped  dry.  We  had  no 
succour,  nor  any  help  except 
in  God;  for  the  Duke  still 
stayed  below,  and  the  whole 
fleet  went  scattered  before 
the  storm  in  such  manner  that 
some  ships  went  to  Ger- 
many, others  put  to  the  isl- 
ands of  Holland  and  Zealand, 


feett er  of  Captain  Cueffar  1 5 

falling  into  the  hands  of  our 
enemy,  some  went  to  Shet- 
land, others  to  Scotland, 
where  they  were  wrecked  and 
burned.  More  than  twenty 
were  lost  off  Ireland,  with  all 
the  flower  and  chivalry  of  the 
fleet.  As  I  have  said,  the  ship 
on  which  I  went  belonged  to 
the  Levantine  Squadron,  and 
two  other  large  ships  kept 
us  company,  in  order  to  help 
us  if  they  could.  On  board 
one  of  them  was  Don  Diego 
Enriquez,  the  hunchback,  a 
colonel.  He  was  unable  to 
double  Cape  Clear  in  Ireland, 
on  account  of  the  bad  storm 
that  rose  in  front,  and  was 


1 6          |§pam00  $rmafca  $racf  0*  (tto.  1 

obliged  to  put  for  land  with 
those  three  ships,  which,  as  I 
say,  were  very  big,  and  to 
cast  anchor  more  than  half  a 
league  from  land,  where  we 
remained  for  four  days  without 
making  any  repairs,  nor  could 
we  do  so ;  and  on  the  fifth, 
up  came  a  great  storm  upon 
our  beam,  in  terrible  hurly- 
burly,  so  that  our  cables  could 
not  hold,  nor  were  the  sails  of 
any  use;  and  with  all  three 
ships  we  were  driven  on  a 
sandy  beach  surrounded  on 
every  side  by  great  rocks,  a 
most  terrible  spectacle;  and  in 
the  space  of  one  hour  all  the 
ships  were  dashed  to  pieces, 


Eefter  of  £apf am  £ueffar  1 7 

and  not  three  hundred  men 
escaped.  More  than  a  thou- 
sand were  drowned,  and 
among  them  many  persons 
of  rank,  captains,  gentlemen, 
and  others.  Don  Diego  died 
there  more  pitifully  than  ever 
was  seen  in  this  world;  for,  in 
fear  of  the  boisterous  waves 
that  swept  over  the  ship,  he 
took  his  tender,  which  had  a 
deck,  and  he  together  with 
the  Count  of  Villafranca's  son 
and  two  others,  Portuguese 
gentlemen,  taking  more  than 
sixteen  thousand  ducats' 
worth  of  jewels  and  crowns, 
got  down  below  the  deck  of 
the  tender,  and  had  the  hatch- 


1 8          JJpam00  ®rmcrt>a  £rocf 0.  (fto.  1 

way  fastened  down  over  them 
and  calked.  Then  immedi- 
ately over  seventy  men  who 
were  still  alive  threw  them- 
selves from  the  ship  on  to  the 
tender,  and  while  that  was 
struggling  to  make  its  way  to 
shore,  a  great  wave  came  over 
it,  which  sunk  it  and  washed 
off  all  hands  that  were  on  it. 
And  straightway  the  tender 
went  tossing  with  the  waves 
hither  and  thither,  until  it 
reached  the  beach,  where  it 
stuck  fast  upside  down,  and 
by  this  mishap  the  gentlemen 
who  got  under  the  little  deck 
perished  within.  After  the 
tender  had  been  aground  a 


feefter  of  Capt  mn  €ueffar  1 9 

day  and  a  half,  some  savages 
came  to  it  and  rolled  it  over 
in  order  to  take  out  some  nails 
and  bits  of  iron,  and  breaking 
the  deck  they  took  out  the 
dead  men.  Don  Diego  Enri- 
quez  breathed  his  last  in  their 
hands.  They  stripped  him 
and  took  the  jewels  and 
money  that  there  were,  let- 
ting the  bodies  lie  there  with- 
out burial.  And  because  it  is 
a  matter  for  wonderment  and 
true  beyond  doubt,  I  have 
wished  to  tell  it  to  your  Maj- 
esty, and  also  that  people  in 
Spain  might  know  in  what 
manner  that  gentleman  died; 
and,  moreover,  as  it  would 


20          J|pam00  $rmafca  £racfe,  (tto.  1 

not  be  just  not  to  tell  my 
good  hap  and  how  I  got 
ashore,  I  go  on. 

I  commended  myself  to 
God  and  to  our  Lady,  and 
went  aft  to  the  top  of  the 
ship's  poop,  and  from  thence 
I  looked  about  on  the  great 
spectacle  of  woe.  Many 
men  were  sinking  in  the 
ships ;  others,  throwing  them- 
selves into  the  water,  went 
down  and  never  came  up ; 
some  were  on  rafts  and  water- 
casks;  captains  threw  their 
gold  chains  and  their  money 
into  the  sea,  and  some  gen- 
tlemen I  saw  clingingto  spars ; 
others  left  on  the  ships  cried 


feett er  of  £apf am  Cueffar  2 1 

aloud,  calling  upon  God ;  and 
some  were  swept  off  by  waves 
which  took  them  right  out 
of  the  ships.  And  as  I  was 
staring  at  this  horror,  I  knew 
not  what  to  do  or  what  part 
to  take,  for  I  cannot  swim, 
and  the  waves  and  the 
storm  were  very  great; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  the 
land  and  the  beach  were  full 
of  enemies  who  were  going 
about  skipping  and  dancing 
for  joy  at  our  misfortune. 
Whenever  any  of  our  men 
reached  land,  two  hundred 
savages  and  other  enemies 
rushed  upon  them  and 
stripped  them  of  everything 


22  |Jjxmi60  $rmafca  $racf 0.   (fto.l 

they  wore,  leaving  them 
stark  naked,  and  without 
any  pity  beat  them  and  ill 
used  them.  All  this  could  be 
plainly  seen  from  the  wrecked 
ships,  and  not  a  single  good 
thing  on  any  side  did  I  see. 
I  went  up  to  the  Judge  Advo- 
cate— may  God  have  mercy 
on  him — he  was  very  sad 
and  downcast,  and  I  bade  him 
try  to  do  something  that  might 
help  save  his  life  before  the 
ship  should  break  up  com- 
pletely, as  it  could  not  last 
more  than  ten  minutes ;  and 
in  fact  it  did  not.  Most  of 
the  people  aboard  and  all  the 
captains  and  officers  had  been 


feetter  of  Capf  am  Cueffar  2  3 

drowned  before  I  cast  about 
for  a  means  to  save  my  life. 
I  got  on  a  plank  which  had 
broken  off  the  ship,  and  the 
Judge  Advocate  followed  me, 
laden  with  crowns  which  he 
carried  sewed  into  his  doub- 
let and  hose ;  but  there  was 
no  way  to  loose  this  plank 
from  the  side  of  the  ship,  for 
it  was  fastened  by  some  big 
iron  chains,  and  the  waves 
and  floating  spars  beat  against 
it,  and  inflicted  upon  us  the 
pangs  of  death.  I  tried  an- 
other means  of  rescue,  and 
that  was  to  catch  hold  of  a 
scuttle-board  as  large  as  a 
good-sized  table,  which  the 


24          J£pani60  $tmafca  £tocf 0.  (fto.l 

mercy  of  God  happened  to 
bring  to  my  hand  ;  but  when 
I  tried  to  get  on  it  I  sank  six 
fathoms  under  water,  and 
swallowed  so  much  that  I 
was  almost  drowned.  When 
I  came  up  I  called  to  the 
Judge  Advocate  and  managed 
to  pull  him  on  the  scuttle- 
board  with  me;  but  as  we 
were  getting  clear  of  the  ship, 
a  monstrous  wave  came  up 
and  swept  over  us  so  hard 
that  the  Judge  Advocate  could 
not  hold  on,  and  the  wave 
carried  him  with  it,  and  he 
was  drowned.  As  he  went 
down  he  shrieked  aloud,  call- 
ing upon  God.  I  could  not 


feettet  of  Captain  Cueffar  25 

help  him,  because  when  the 
board  was  left  with  the  weight 
on  only  one  side,  it  began  to 
twirl  around  with  me,  and  at 
that  moment  a  log  of  wood 
almost  broke  my  legs,  but 
I  mustered  up  courage,  and 
climbed  well  up  on  the  scut- 
tle, praying  to  our  Lady  of 
Ontanar.  Four  waves  came, 
one  after  the  other,  and 
without  my  knowing  how 
nor  being  able  to  swim,  they 
carried  me  ashore,  where  I 
landed ;  but  I  could  not  stand 
up,  for  I  was  all  bruised  and 
bleeding.  The  enemy  and 
savages  who  were  on  the 
beach  stripping  all  those  who 


26 


had  succeeded  in  swimming 
ashore,  seeing  my  plight, 
legs,  hands,  and  linen  hose 
all  bloody,  did  not  touch  me 
nor  did  they  come  up  to  me, 
and  so  I  crawled  along,  little  by 
little,  as  best  I  could.  I  passed 
many  Spaniards  completely 
naked  without  any  clothes 
on  at  all,  shivering  with  the 
cold,  which  was  very  severe. 
The  night  came  upon  me  in 
this  dreary  place,  and  I  was 
obliged  to  lie  down  upon 
some  rushes  in  the  field  in 
spite  of  the  pain  I  suffered  ; 
and  then  a  gentleman  came 
up  to  me,  naked,  a  very  gen- 
tle youth.  He  was  so  fright- 


feetter  of  Captain  Cueffar  27 

ened  that  he  could  not  speak, 
not  even  to  tell  me  who  he 
was.  At  that  hour,  which 
was  about  nine  o'clock  at 
night,  the  wind  died  down 
and  the  sea  was  becoming 
calm .  I  was  wet  to  the  skin 
and  half  dead  with  pain  and 
hunger,  when  two  men  came 
by,  one  with  some  weapon 
and  the  other  with  a  great 
iron  axe  in  his  hands,  and 
walked  up  to  me  and  my 
companion.  We  lay  still,  as 
if  nothing  had  been  the  mat- 
ter with  us,  and  they  had 
compassion  on  seeing  us,  and 
without  saying  a  word  cut 
down  some  rushes  and  grasses 


28  |3pam00  ®rmaba  £racf 0.   (tto.1 

and  covered  us  up  very  well. 
Then  they  went  to  the  beach 
to  break  open  and  loot  the 
chests  and  whatever  else  they 
found,  and  in  this  they  were 
assisted  by  over  two  thou- 
sand savages  and  English- 
men who  were  stationed  in 
the  garrisons  round  about. 
By  managing  to  lie  quiet  a 
little,  I  fell  asleep,  until  in  the 
best  of  my  slumber,  about 
one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  I 
was  woke  by  a  great  noise 
of  people  on  horseback, 
more  than  two  hundred,  who 
were  on  their  way  to  pillage 
the  ships.  I  turned  to  call 
my  comrade  to  see  if  he 


feeffer  of  Captain  £ueffar  29 

slept,  and  found  that  he  was 
dead,  at  which  I  was  very 
sad.  I  learned  afterward 
that  he  was  a  gentleman  of 
quality.  There  he  lay  on  the 
field  with  more  than  six  hun- 
dred other  bodies  which  the 
sea  had  cast  up.  The  crows 
and  the  wolves  fed  upon 
them,  and  there  was  nobody 
to  bury  any  of  them,  not  even 
poor  Don  Diego  Enriquez. 
At  daybreak  I  began  to  go 
a  little  at  a  time  in  quest 
of  a  monastery  of  monks,  in 
order  to  get  well  there  as 
best  I  might.  I  reached  the 
place  with  much  pain  and  suf- 
fering, and  found  the  monas- 


3° 


tery  torn  down,  the  church 
and  holy  images  burned, 
and  everything  destroyed, 
and  twelve  Spaniards  hanged 
within  the  church  by  the 
English  Protestants,  who 
went  about  looking  for  us  in 
order  to  kill  all  those  who 
had  escaped  the  hazard  of  the 
sea.  All  the  monks  had  fled 
to  the  mountains  for  fear  of 
the  enemy  ;  for  they  would 
have  killed  them  too  if  they 
had  caught  them,  as  is  their 
usage,  not  leaving  a  church 
nor  a  hermitage  standing,  for 
they  have  pulled  them  all 
down  and  turned  them  into 
drinking-sties  for  cows  and 


feetter  of  £apf am  £ueffar  3 1 

pigs.  I  write  this  in  such  de- 
tail that  your  Majesty  may 
learn  the  adventures  and 
hardships  that  I  have  seen, 
for  your  Majesty  may  occupy 
yourself  a  little  by  way  of 
amusement  after  dinner  in 
reading  this  letter,  for  it  might 
almost  seem  to  be  taken  out 
of  some  book  of  Knight  Er- 
rantry. As  I  found  nobody 
in  that  monastery  except  the 
Spaniards  dangling  from  the 
iron  grates  in  the  church  win- 
dows, I  went  out  very  quick 
and  took  a  path  that  led 
through  a  wood.  After  I  had 
gone  along  it  about  a  mile,  I 
met  a  woman,  a  wild  savage, 


32          ||pam00  $rmaba  $rocf0.  (tto.  1 

more  than  eighty  years  old, 
who  was  driving  five  or  six 
cows  to  hide  them  in  the 
wood,  so  that  the  English 
who  had  come  to  lodge  in 
her  village  should  not  take 
them.  When  she  saw  me 
she  stopped,  and  recognizing 
me  said,  "You  Spain?"  I 
told  her  by  signs  that  I  was, 
and  that  I  had  been  wrecked 
on  the  ships.  She  had  much 
pity  upon  me  and  began  to 
cry,  making  signs  to  me  that 
we  were  near  her  cabin  and 
that  I  should  not  go  thither, 
because  many  of  the  enemy 
were  there,  and  they  had  cut 
off  the  heads  of  many  Span- 


feefter  of  £apf ain  £uef far  3  3 

iards.  All  this  was  trial  and 
tribulation  for  me,  because  I 
was  all  alone  and  badly 
lamed  by  a  log  that  had  al- 
most broken  my  legs  in  the 
water.  Finally,  by  the  old 
woman's  advice,  I  made  up 
my  mind  to  go  back  to  the 
beach  where  the  ships  had 
been  wrecked  three  days  be- 
fore. There  were  troops  of 
people  going  about  there, 
loading  the  spoils  upon  carts 
and  carrying  them  to  their 
huts.  I  did  not  dare  show 
myself  nor  go  up  to  them, 
lest  they  should  strip  off  the 
wretched  linen  garments  I 
had  on  my  back,  or  murder 


34 


&panief)  (grmafca  £racf  e. 


me ;  and  then  I  saw  two 
poor  Spanish  soldiers  come 
along,  naked  as  on  the  day 
they  were  born,  moaning  and 
calling  to  God  to  help  them. 
One  had  a  bad  cut  on  his 
head,  which  he  got  when 
they  stripped  him.  I  called 
to  them  from  where  I  was 
hid,  and  they  came  up  to  me 
and  told  me  of  the  cruel 
deaths  and  tortures  that  the 
English  had  inflicted  upon 
more  than  a  hundred  Span- 
iards whom  they  had  cap- 
tured. I  had  sorrow  enough 
for  this  news,  but  God  gave 
me  strength,  and  after  I  had 
commended  myself  to  Him 


feeff  er  of  Capf ain  Cueffat  3  5 

and  to  His  blessed  Mother,  I 
said  to  the  two  soldiers,  "  Let 
us  go  to  the  ships  where 
those  people  are  plundering ; 
perhaps  we  shall  find  some- 
thing to  eat  and  drink,  for  I 
am  surely  starving  to  death." 
And  going  thither  we  saw 
dead  bodies — and  great  pain 
and  pity  it  was  to  see  them  — 
for  the  sea  was  still  throw- 
ing them  up,  and  more  than 
four  hundred  lay  stiff  upon 
the  sand.  We  recognized 
some  of  them,  among  others 
poor  Don  Diego  Enriquez; 
and  in  spite  of  my  forlorn  con- 
dition, I  could  not  bear  to 
pass  him  by  without  burying 


36          JJjxmi00  $rmafca  £rocf  0.  (tto. 


him,  and  so  we  dug  a  hole  in 
the  sand  by  the  water's  edge. 
There  we  laid  him  with  an- 
other much  honoured  captain, 
a  dear  friend  of  mine  ;  and  we 
had  hardly  finished  covering 
them  with  earth  when  some 
two  hundred  savages  came 
up  to  see  what  we  were  do- 
ing. We  told  them  by  signs 
that  we  had  buried  these  men 
there  so  that  the  crows 
should  not  eat  them,  as  they 
were  our  brothers.  Then  we 
set  out  to  look  for  some- 
thing to  eat  along  the  beach, 
for  the  sea  had  cast  up  some 
biscuits,  when  four  savages 
rushed  up  to  me  to  tear  the 


feeft  er  of  Capt  am  Cuef f at  3  7 

clothes  off  my  back ;  but  an- 
other man,  when  he  saw 
them  begin  to  maltreat  me, 
took  pity  on  me,  and  sent 
them  off.  He  must  have 
been  a  man  of  rank,  because 
they  obeyed  him.  Then,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  he  lent  as- 
sistance to  me  and  my  two 
companions,  and  took  us 
away  from  there,  and  tarried 
a  long  time  with  us  until  he 
put  us  on  a  road  that  went 
away  from  the  shore  and  led 
to  a  village  where  he  lived. 
He  told  us  to  wait  for  him 
there,  for  he  would  soon 
come  back  and  show  us  our 
path  for  some  way  on.  This 


38          J^cmi00  $rmaba  £racf  0.  (fto.l 


road  was  very  stony,  and  I 
could  not  stir  nor  take  a  step 
forward  because  I  was  bare- 
foot and  half  dead  with  pain 
in  my  leg  which  had  a  very 
deep  cut.  My  poor  compan- 
ions were  naked  and  stiff 
with  cold,  which  was  very 
bitter  ;  and  as  they  could  not 
bear  it  nor  be  of  any  help  to 
me,  they  went  ahead  along 
the  road,  and  I  remained 
there  praying  to  God  for 
help.  He  came  to  my  aid, 
and  I  began  to  walk,  little 
by  little,  and  reached  a  high 
place  from  whence  I  could 
see  some  straw  huts.  I  went 
toward  these  through  a  dell, 


feetf  et  of  £ajrfain  £uef f at  3  9 

and  entered  a  wood;  and  af- 
ter I  had  gone  the  distance 
of  two  musket-shots  through 
it,  a  man  over  seventy  years 
old  came  out  from  behind 
some  rocks,  and  with  him 
two  young  men  carrying 
arms,  one  an  Englishman 
and  the  other  a  Frenchman, 
and  also  a  very  pretty  girl  of 
twenty,  all  of  whom  were 
going  to  the  shore  to  plun- 
der. When  they  saw  me 
walking  through  the  trees 
they  came  toward  me,  and 
the  Englishman,  running  up, 
cried,  "Surrender,  you  Span- 
ish coward ! "  and  made  a  cut 
at  me  with  his  knife,  trying  to 


4°          J$pam00  $rmaba  £mcf  0*   (tto,  1 

kill  me.  I  parried  the  blow 
with  a  stick  I  had  in  my 
hand,  but  he  succeeded  in 
hitting  me  and  cut  me  in  the 
right  leg.  He  would  have 
struck  me  again  if  the  old 
savage  and  his  daughter,  who 
was  probably  the  English- 
man's mistress,  had  not  come 
up.  I  bade  him  do  what  he 
would  with  me,  since  fortune 
had  vanquished  me  and  taken 
away  my  arms  in  the  sea. 
They  separated  him  from  me, 
and  the  savage  stripped  me 
even  to  my  shirt.  Under  it 
I  wore  a  gold  chain  worth 
more  than  a  thousand  reals. 
When  they  saw  this  they 


feetter  of  £apf  am  Cueffar  4 1 

were  delighted  and  rummaged 
through  my  doublet  thread 
by  thread.  In  this  I  carried 
forty-five  gold  crowns  which 
had  been  given  me  at  Co- 
runna  by  the  Duke's  orders 
for  two  months'  pay.  When 
the  Englishman  saw  that  I 
had  a  gold  chain  and  money, 
he  wanted  to  keep  me  pris- 
oner, thinking  that  he  would 
be  offered  a  ransom  for  me. 
I  told  him  that  I  had  nothing 
to  give,  as  I  was  only  a  poor 
soldier,  and  that  I  had  got 
that  gold  aboard  ship.  The 
girl  was  very  sorry  to  see  the 
ill  usage  they  did  me,  and  en- 
treated them  to  give  me  back 


o. 


my  clothes  and  do  me  no 
more  harm.  They  all  went 
back  to  the  savage's  cabin, 
and  I  was  left  under  the  trees, 
bleeding  fast  from  the  cut  that 
the  Englishman  had  given  me. 
I  put  on  my  doublet  and  coat. 
They  had  even  taken  away 
my  shirt  and  some  precious 
relics  which  I  wore  in  a  little 
jacket  of  the  brotherhood  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  and  which 
had  been  given  to  me  at  Lis- 
bon. The  girl  took  these  anc} 
put  them  around  her  neck, 
making  signs  to  me  that  she 
wished  to  keep  them,  and  tell- 
ing me  that  she  was  a  Chris- 
tian, and  so  she  was — like 


feet i et  of  Captain  Cuef f at  4  3 

Mahomet.  They  sent  a  boy 
to  me  from  the  hut  bearing  a 
poultice  made  of  herbs  to  put 
on  my  wound,  also  milk,  but- 
ter, and  a  piece  of  oaten  bread 
for  me  to  eat.  I  poulticed 
myself  and  ate.  Then  the 
boy  went  with  me  along  the 
road,  pointing  out  the  direc- 
tion in  which  I  ought  to  go, 
and  keeping  me  away  from  a 
village  which  was  in  sight  of 
the  road,  where  many  Span- 
iards had  been  killed,  and  not 
a  single  man  on  whom  the 
inhabitants  could  la/  hands 
had  escaped.  The  French- 
man was  the  cause  of  doing 
me  this  good  turn,  for  he  had 


44 


been  a  soldier  at  Terceira,  and 
he  was  very  sorry  to  see  me 
so  maltreated.  When  the 
boy  turned  to  go  back,  he 
bade  me  keep  straight  on  to 
some  mountains  that  seemed 
to  be  some  six  leagues  from 
us,  behind  which  lay  a  friend- 
ly country  that  belonged  to  a 
great  lord  who  was  a  good 
friend  to  the  King  of  Spain, 
and  who  harboured  all  the 
Spaniards  that  came  to  him, 
and  was  very  kind  to  them, 
and  had  taken  in  more  than 
eighty  of  the  men  from  our 
ships  who  had  gone  to  him 
naked.  At  this  news  I 
plucked  up  courage  some- 


feetfer  of  £fcpfcun  Cueffar  45 

what,  and  stick  in  hand 
started  to  walk  as  best  I  could, 
striking  north  for  the  moun- 
tains that  the  boy  had  point- 
ed out.  That  night  I  came 
to  some  huts  where  they  did 
me  no  harm  because  there 
was  a  young  man  there  who 
knew  Latin,  and  God  was 
pleased  that  owing  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  occasion  we 
should  understand  one  an- 
other in  that  language.  I 
told  him  my  misfortunes. 
The  Latin  scholar  took  me 
into  his  hut  for  the  night, 
and  gave  me  medicine  and 
some  supper  and  a  place  on 
the  straw  to  sleep.  In  the 


46 


middle  of  the  night  his  father 
and  brothers  came  home 
laden  with  the  spoils  of  our 
things,  but  the  old  man  did 
not  mind  that  they  had  taken 
me  into  his  house  and  had 
treated  me  well.  In  the 
morning  they  gave  me  a  boy 
and  a  horse  to  take  me  over 
a  mile  of  road  which  was  so 
bad  that  the  mud  was  up  to 
the  horse's  pasterns.  After 
we  had  gone  past  it  by  a  bow- 
shot we  heard  a  great  noise, 
and  the  boy  said  to  me,  mak- 
ing signs,  "Save  yourself, 
Spain,"  for  that  is  what  they 
call  us.  "Many  Saxons  are 
coming  on  horseback,  and 


feefter  of  Captain  Cueffar  47 

they  will  kill  you  unless  you 
hide.  Come  here  quick  ! " 
They  call  the  English  Saxons. 
We  hid  in  the  cleft  of  some 
rocks,  where  we  lay  safe  with- 
out being  seen.  There  were 
more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  of  them  on  horseback, 
and  they  were  going  all  along 
the  coast  to  rob  and  kill  all 
the  Spaniards  that  they  could 
find.  God  delivered  me  from 
them,  but  as  we  went  on  our 
way  we  met  more  than  forty 
savages  on  foot  who  wanted 
to  murder  me,  for  they  were 
all  Protestants,  but  they  did 
not  do  it  because  the  boy 
who  was  with  me  told  them 


48 


that  his  master  had  captured 
me  and  I  was  his  prisoner, 
and  that  he  was  sending  me 
on  horseback  so  that  I  might 
get  well.  All  this  did  not 
suffice  to  secure  my  going 
on  in  peace,  for  two  of  those 
robbers  seized  me  and  gave 
me  half  a  dozen  blows,  bruis- 
ing my  back  and  arms,  and 
stripped  me  of  everything  I 
had  on,  and  left  me  naked  as 
when  I  was  born.  By  the 
Holy  Baptism  that  I  received, 
this  is  true.  Then,  seeing 
myself  in  this  plight,  I  gave 
thanks  to  God,  supplicating 
His  Divine  Majesty  to  fulfil 
His  will  upon  me,  for  that 


feettet  of  Captain  £ueffar  49 

was  my  will  also.  The  sav- 
age's boy  then  turned  to  go 
home  with  his  horse,  weep- 
ing to  see  me  so  naked, 
beaten,  and  cold.  I  besought 
God  very  earnestly  to  take 
me  where  I  might  confess 
myself  and  then  die  in  His 
grace.  Then  I  plucked  up 
courage,  being  in  the  worst 
extreme  of  misfortune  that 
ever  a  man  was,  and  covered 
myself  with  some  fern  leaves 
and  a  bit  of  an  old  mat,  and 
protected  myself  from  the 
cold  the  best  I  could.  I  jour- 
neyed on,  little  by  little,  in  a 
direction  they  had  pointed 
out,  in  search  of  the  lands  of 


5°          Jhtoni00  ®tmft&&  £tocf0.  (tto.l 

that  chieftain  with  whom  the 
other  Spaniards  had  taken 
refuge,  and  I  came  to  that 
peak  which  they  had  point- 
ed out  as  a  mark.  There  I 
found  a  lake  around  which 
there  were  some  thirty  huts, 
all  completely  empty,  and  I 
looked  about  for  a  place  to 
spend  the  night.  Having  no- 
where to  go,  I  went  up  to  the 
biggest  cabin,  as  that  seemed 
the  best  place  to  take  shel- 
ter in  for  the  night,  for  all 
of  them  were  deserted  and 
empty.  As  I  was  going  in 
the  door  I  saw  there  many 
bundles  of  oats,  which  are 
made  into  the  bread  that 


£etf er  of  €apf am  Cueffar  5 1 

those  savages  usually  eat,  and 
I  thanked  God  that  on  them 
I  had  a  good  place  to  sleep, 
when  of  a  sudden  I  saw  three 
naked  men  get  up  at  one  side, 
and  come  forward  and  stare 
at  me.  It  gave  me  a  start,  for 
I  thought  without  doubt  they 
were  devils,  and  they  knew 
no  better  what  I  could  be, 
wrapped  up  in  my  mat  and 
leaves.  They  were  so  fright- 
ened that  they  did  not  speak 
to  me,  nor  I  to  them,  and  I 
could  not  see  them  distinctly, 
for  the  hut  was  rather  dark; 
and  being  much  confounded 
I  exclaimed,  "Oh,  Mother  of 
God,  be  with  me  and  deliver 


5  2          JJpam0$  $t maba  £rocf  0.   Qto,  1 

me  from  all  evil."  When 
they  heard  me  speak  Span- 
ish and  call  on  the  Mother 
of  God,  they  also  exclaimed, 
"Holy  Virgin,  be  with  us." 
Then  I  was  reassured,  and 
went  up  to  them  and  ask- 
ed if  they  were  Spaniards. 
They  answered,  "Yes,  we 
are,  for  our  sins.  Eleven  of 
us  together  were  robbed  of 
everything  on  the  beach,  and 
naked  as  we  were  we  went 
to  look  for  some  place  where 
Christians  dwelt,  and  on  the 
way  we  met  a  troop  of  the 
enemy,  who  killed  eight  of 
us.  The  three  of  us  here  es- 
caped into  a  wood  which  was 


feetter  of  £apf ain  £ueffar  5  3 

so  thick  that  they  could  not 
find  us,  and  that  night  God 
led  us  thither  to  these  huts, 
and  here  we  stayed  to  re- 
cover from  our  fatigue,  al- 
though there  were  no  people 
and  nothing  to  eat."  I  told 
them  always  to  commit 
themselves  to  God  and  to  be 
of  good  cheer,  for  we  were  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  friends 
and  Christians,  for  I  had  in- 
formation of  a  village  that 
was  about  three  or  four 
leagues  away  from  us,  which 
belonged  to  my  Lord  Ruerque 
(O'Rourke),  where  many  of 
the  wrecked  Spaniards  had 
taken  refuge,  and  that  al- 


54 


though  I  was  very  badly  used 
up  and  wounded  we  should 
start  on  our  journey  thither 
the  next  day.  The  poor  fel- 
lows were  delighted,  and 
asked  me  who  I  was.  I  told 
them  that  I  was  Captain  Cu- 
ellar.  They  could  hardly  be- 
lieve it,  for  they  thought  I 
was  drowned,  and  rushed  up 
to  me  and  hugged  me  almost 
to  death.  One  of  them  was 
a  sergeant  and  the  other  two 
common  soldiers.  And  as 
this  tale  is  ludicrous,  and 
true  as  I  am  a  Christian,  I 
have  written  it  all  out  for 
your  Majesty's  diversion.  I 
buried  myself  deep  in  the 


feetf  er  of  £apf am  Cueffar  5  5 

straw,  taking  care  not  to  dis- 
turb it  or  disarrange  it  from 
the  way  it  was  ;  and,  having 
agreed  -to  get  up  early  in 
the  morning  for  our  journey, 
we  went  to  sleep  without 
supper,  and  without  having 
had  anything  to  eat  except 
mulberries  and  water-cress. 
While  it  was  still  daytime  I 
was  already  wide  awake  with 
a  great  pain  in  my  legs,  and  I 
heard  noises  and  talking,  and 
just  then  a  savage  came  to 
the  door  with  a  battle-axe  in 
his  hand,  and  looked  around 
at  the  oats,  muttering  to  him- 
self. I  and  my  companions, 
who  had  also  waked  up, 


56  |5pani00  $rmaba  £racf 0.   (fto.l 

lay  still  without  drawing 
a  breath,  peering  attentively 
through  the  straw  at  the  sav- 
age to  see  what  he  would  do. 
God  willed  that  he  went  out 
and  betook  himself,  with  a 
number  of  others  who  had 
come  with  him,  to  work  at 
reaping  near  the  huts,  in  such 
a  place  that  it  was  impossible 
for  us  to  go  out  without  their 
seeing  us.  We  lay  still,  bur- 
ied alive,  talking  over  what 
we  had  better  do,  and  agreed 
not  to  get  out  of  the  straw 
or  to  move  from  that  place  as 
long  as  those  savages  and 
heretics  were  there;  for  they 
belonged  to  that  neighbour- 


feeff er  of  Captain  Cueffar  5  7 

hood  where  the  people  treat- 
ed the  poor  Spaniards  whom 
they  caught  so  dreadfully, 
and  they  would  have  done 
the  like  to  us  if  they  had 
found  us  there,  where  there 
was  no  one  to  help  us  but 
God.  All  day  passed  in  this 
way,  and  when  night  came 
those  wretches  betook  them- 
selves to  their  huts.  We 
waited  for  the  moon  to  rise, 
and  then,  wrapped  up  in  straw 
and  hay,  because  it  was  bit- 
ter cold,  we  left  that  dan- 
gerous place  without  waiting 
for  daylight.  We  went  on, 
floundering  in  the  mud,  half 
dead  with  pain,  hunger,  and 


5  8          Jlpantefl  $rmafc&  £racf 0,  $0. 1 

thirst.  God  was  pleased  to 
bring  us  to  a  land  of  some 
safety  where  we  found  a  ham- 
let belonging  to  better  people, 
although  they  were  all  sav- 
ages, yet  Christians  and  kind- 
ly. One  of  them  saw  my 
wound  and  in  what  bad 
plight  I  was,  and  took  me 
into  his  hut,  and  he  and  his 
wife  and  children  took  care 
of  me,  and  he  would  not  let 
me  go  till  he  thought  that  I 
could  safely  reach  the  village 
whither  I  was  going.  In  that 
village  I  found  more  than 
seventy  Spaniards.  They  had 
no  clothes  and  were  very  ill 
treated,  because  the  chief  was 


feefter  of  Captain  £ueff ar  5  9 

not  there :  he  had  gone  to 
defend  a  part  of  the  coun- 
try which  the  English  were 
coming  to  attack ;  for  al- 
though he  is  a  savage  he  is  a 
very  good  Christian  and  an 
enemy  to  the  heretics,  and 
always  fights  against  them. 
His  name  is  Lord  de  Ruerge 
(O'Rourke).  I  reached  his 
house  with  much  difficulty, 
covered  with  straw  and  a  bit 
of  mat  twined  around  my 
body,  so  that  everybody  was 
moved  with  pity  at  seeing  me. 
Some  of  the  savages  gave 
me  a  wretched  old  cloak  full 
of  lice,  which  I  put  on  and 
found  of  some  comfort.  Next 


60 


day,  in  the  morning,  some 
twenty  of  us  Spanish  met  to- 
gether at  Chief  Ruerque's  hut, 
asking  them  to  give  us  some- 
thing to  eat  for  love  of  God, 
and  as  we  stood  begging  they 
informed  us  that  there  was  a 
very  large  Spanish  ship  on 
the  coast,  which  had  come 
for  the  Spaniards  who  had 
escaped.  At  this  news,  with- 
out waiting,  all  twenty  of  us 
set  out  for  the  place  where 
we  were  told  the  ship  was. 
We  found  many  obstacles  on 
the  way,  but  that  was  a  good 
thing  for  me,  and  a  mercy 
that  God  did  to  me,  in  that 
I  did  not  reach  the  harbour 


feeft er  of  Capf  am  Cueffat  6 1 

where  the  ship  was,  as  the 
others  that  were  with  me  did. 
The  ship  belonged  to  the 
fleet,  and  had  put  into  port 
there  in  a  great  storm  with 
the  mainmast  and  rigging  in 
a  very  bad  condition.  They 
were  afraid  lest  the  enemy, 
who  were  getting  ready  with 
great  vigour,  should  burn  the 
ship  or  do  it  some  other  harm, 
so  they  made  repairs  in  two 
days'  time,  and  then,  with  the 
people  that  came  in  her  and 
those  besides  whom  they 
picked  up,  they  sailed  off  and 
again  ran  aground  on  the 
same  coast,  and  more  than 
two  hundred  persons  were 


62 


.  (tto. 


drowned.  Those  who  es- 
caped by  swimming  ashore 
were  captured  by  the  Eng- 
lish and  put  to  the  sword. 
God  was  pleased  that  I  alone 
should  be  left  out  of  the 
twenty  who  went  to  look  for 
the  ship,  so  that  I  should  not 
suffer  like  the  others.  Blessed 
be  His  holy  mercy  forever  for 
all  the  mercies  He  has  shown 
me.  Havingthuslostmyway, 
I  was  going  in  great  perplexity 
and  trouble  when  I  struck  a 
road  and  met  a  clerk  in  a  lay 
habit  walking  along,  for  the 
priests  in  that  country  travel 
in  that  way  so  that  the  Eng- 
lish shall  not  recognize  them. 


feetfer  of  £apfain  £ueffar  63 

He  took  pity  on  me,  and 
spoke  to  me  in  Latin,  and 
asked  me  of  what  nation  I 
was  and  about  the  shipwrecks 
through  which  I  had  passed. 
God  gave  me  grace  so  that 
I  could  answer  about  every- 
thing which  he  asked  me  in 
the  same  Latin  tongue.  He 
was  so  satisfied  with  me  that 
he  gave  me  to  eat  from  what 
he  carried  with  him,  and  set 
me  on  a  road  by  which  I 
should  get  to  a  castle  that 
was  about  six  leagues  from 
there.  He  said  it  was  a  very 
strong  place,  and  belonged  to 
a  savage  chief,  a  very  valiant 
soldier  and  a  great  enemy  of 


64 


the  Queen  of  England  and  of 
everything  that  was  hers,  a 
man  who  would  never  obey 
or  pay  tribute,  keeping  him- 
self in  his  castle  and  among 
the  mountains  that  made  his 
stronghold.  Thither  I  went, 
overcoming  many  difficul- 
ties by  the  way  :  that  which 
was  the  worst  and  did  me 
most  harm  was  that  a  sav- 
age met  me  on  the  road  and 
by  a  cheat  took  me  to  his 
hut  in  a  desert  valley,  and 
told  me  that  I  had  to  live 
with  him  all  my  life,  and 
that  he  would  teach  me  his 
trade,  which  was  a  black- 
smith's. I  did  not  know 


feettet  of  Captain  Cueffar  65 

what  to  answer  him,  nor  did 
I  dare  lest  he  should  put  me 
in  the  forge.  On  the  con- 
trary, I  assumed  a  cheerful 
face  and  went  to  work  at  the 
bellows  for  more  than  eight 
days.  The  wicked  black- 
smith was  pleased  with  this, 
for  I  worked  carefully  so  as 
not  to  vex  him,  and  so  was 
the  accursed  old  woman  his 
wife.  I  was  getting  very  sad 
and  downhearted  over  this 
occupation  when  God  came 
to  my  help  by  sending  the 
priest  back  that  way.  He 
was  shocked  to  see  me,  but 
the  savage  would  not  let 
me  go  as  he  wanted  my  ser- 


66 


vices.  The  priest  rebuked  him 
roundly,  and  bade  me  not  to 
be  troubled  for  he  should 
speak  to  the  Lord  of  the  Cas- 
tle whither  he  had  directed 
me,  and  should  get  him  to 
send  for  me.  And  so  he  did 
the  next  day,  because  this 
chief  sent  four  of  his  adhe- 
rents, savages,  and  a  Spanish 
soldier,  for  he  had  with  him 
ten  of  those  who  had  swum 
ashore  from  the  wreck. 
When  he  saw  me  without 
any  clothes  and  dressed  in 
straw,  he  and  all  who  were 
with  him  felt  very  sorry,  and 
the  women  wept  to  see  me 
so  ill  used.  They  made  me 


feetter  of  Captain  Cueffar  67 

amends  as  well  as  they  could 
with  a  woolen  blanket  af- 
ter their  fashion,  and  there  I 
stayed  three  months,  turned 
into  a  savage  just  like  them. 
My  master's  wife  was  exceed- 
ingly comely  and  was  very 
good  to  me,  and  one  day  we 
sat  together  in  the  sun,  she 
and  friends  of  hers  and  rela- 
tions. They  questioned  me 
about  Spain  and  other  places, 
and  finally  asked  me  to  look 
at  their  hands  and  tell  them 
their  fortunes.  I  rendered 
thanks  to  God,  for  now  that 
I  was  become  a  gipsy  among 
savages,  there  was  nothing 
further  to  befall  me.  I  ex- 


68 


amined  all  their  hands,  and 
told  them  a  hundred  thou- 
sand nonsensical  things,  at 
which  they  were  mightily 
pleased,  so  that  no  other 
Spaniard  stood  so  high  in 
their  regard  as  I,  and  both 
day  and  night  men  and  wo- 
men followed  me  about  inces- 
santly to  have  me  tell  their 
fortunes,  so  that  I  was  sur- 
rounded by  such  a  crowd 
that  I  was  compelled  to  ask 
permission  of  my  master  to 
leave  his  castle.  He  would 
not  grant  it,  but  gave  orders 
that  no  one  should  disturb 
me  or  give  me  any  annoy- 
ance. 


feeftet  of  Captain  Cucffar  69 

The  nature  of  these  savages 
is  to  live  like  beasts  among 
the  mountains,  some  of  which 
are  very  rugged  in  the  parts 
of  the  island  where  we  were 
cast  away.  They  live  in  huts 
made  of  straw.  The  men 
have  big  bodies,  their  features 
and  limbs  are  well  made,  and 
they  are  agile  as  deer.  They 
eat  but  one  meal  a  day,  and 
that  at  night,  and  their  ordi- 
nary food  is  oaten  bread  and 
butter.  They  drink  sour  milk, 
as  they  have  no  other  bever- 
age, but  no  water,  although  it 
is  the  best  in  the  world.  On 
holidays  they  eat  meat,  half 
cooked,  without  bread  or  salt. 


yo 


They  dress  in  tight  breeches 
and  goatskin  jackets  cut  short 
but  very  big,  and  over  all  a 
blanket,  and  wear  their  hair 
down  to  their  eyes.  They 
are  good  walkers,  and  have 
great  endurance.  They  are 
always  at  war  with  the 
English  who  garrison  the 
country  there,  and  both  de- 
fend themselves  from  them 
and  prevent  them  from  com- 
ing into  their  territory,  which 
is  all  flooded  and  covered 
with  marshy  ponds.  Their 
domain  spreads  more  than 
forty  leagues  each  way. 
Their  great  bent  is  to  be  rob- 
bers and  to  steal  from  one 


feettet  of  £ajrf am  £ueffor  7 1 

another,  so  that  not  a  day 
passes  without  a  call  to  arms 
among  them.  For  when  the 
men  of  one  hamlet  learn  that 
there  are  cattle  or  anything 
else  in  another,  they  go  at 
once,  armed,  by  night,  and 
shouting  war-whoops  kill  one 
another,  and  then  when  the 
English  learn  which  village 
has  gathered  in  and  stolen 
most  cattle  they  swoop  down 
on  it  and  take  all  away; 
and  these  have  no  other  help 
than  to  fly  to  the  mountains 
with  their  wives  and  flocks, 
for  they  possess  no  other 
property,  neither  household 
stuff  nor  clothes.  They  sleep 


72          |Jpam00  @rmaba  £racf 0.   (fto.l 

on  the  ground,  upon  rushes 
freshly  cut  and  full  of  water 
or  else  frozen  stiff.  Most  of 
the  women  are  very  pretty 
but  ill  dressed.  They  wear 
nothing  but  a  shift  and  a 
blanket  over  it,  and  a  linen 
cloth  much  folded  on  their 
heads  and  tied  in  front.  They 
are  hard  workers  and  good 
housewives  after  their  fash- 
ion. These  people  call  them- 
selves Christians;  they  hear 
mass  and  follow  the  usages 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  Al- 
most all  their  churches,  mon- 
asteries, and  hermitages  have 
been  destroyed  by  the  sol- 
diers from  the  English  gar- 


feetter  of  Captain  £ueffar  7  3 

risons  and  by  their  own 
countrymen  who  have  joined 
those,  for  they  are  as  bad  as 
the  English.  And  to  sum  up, 
in  that  country  there  is  nei- 
ther justice  nor  right,  and  ev- 
erybody does  what  he  likes. 
These  savages  liked  us  very 
much,  for  they  knew  that 
we  were  great  enemies  to 
the  heretics  and  had  come 
against  them,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  them  not  one  of  us 
would  now  be  alive.  We 
were  very  grateful  to  them 
for  this,  although  they  were 
the  first  to  rob  and  plunder 
those  of  us  who  reached  the 
land  alive.  These  savages 


74 


got  a  great  quantity  of  jewels 
and  money  from  us  and  from 
those  thirteen  ships  of  our 
fleet,  for  there  were  many 
people  of  great  possessions 
on  board  them  who  were  all 
drowned.  News  of  this  came 
to  the  Lord  Governor  of  the 
kingdom,  who  was  in  the 
city  of  Dililin  (Dublin),  and 
he  straightway  set  forth  with 
seventeen  hundred  soldiers 
to  look  for  the  wrecks  and 
for  the  people  that  had  es- 
caped, who  were  near  a  thou- 
sand, and  were  wandering 
about  the  country,  without 
arms  and  without  clothes,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  dif- 


feefter  of  Cajrfain  Cueffar  75 

ferent  places  where  the  ships 
had  been  wrecked.  The  Gov- 
ernor captured  most  of  them 
and  hanged  them  at  once, 
and  did  other  acts  of  cruelty. 
He  put  in  prison  those  who 
were  said  to  have  given  us 
succour,  and  did  them  all  the 
evil  he  could.  He  took  pris- 
oners three  or  four  chieftains 
who  possessed  castles  and 
had  received  some  of  the 
Spanish  in  them,  and  then 
marched  all  along  the  coast 
until  he  came  to  the  place 
where  I  was  wrecked,  and 
from  thence  he  made  an  in- 
cursion to  Manglana's  castle, 
for  that  was  the  name  of  the 


76 


savage  with  whom  I  lived. 
This  chieftain  was  always  a 
great  enemy  of  the  Queen's, 
and  never  loved  anything  that 
was  hers,  nor  would  he  obey 
her,  and  therefore  the  Gover- 
nor wanted  very  much  to 
take  him  prisoner.  When 
this  chief  heard  of  the  great 
force  that  was  coming  against 
him,  knowing  he  had  no 
means  of  resistance,  he  re- 
solved to  fly  to  the  moun- 
tains, which,  in  default  of  an 
army,  was  his  only  safety. 
We  Spanish,  who  were  with 
him,  already  had  news  of  the 
evil  that  was  coming  upon 
us,  and  we  did  not  know 


feefter  of  Captain  Cueffar  77 

what  to  do  nor  where  to  turn 
for  safety;  and  one  Sunday, 
after  mass,  the  chief  blazing 
with  anger,  his  hair  hanging 
down  over  his  eyes,  took  us 
apart,  and  said  that  he  could 
not  entertain  any  hope  of  de- 
fence, and  that  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  fly  with  all 
his  people,  their  flocks  and 
families,  and  that  we  must 
look  to  what  we  should  do 
to  save  our  lives.  I  made  an- 
swer that  if  he  would  wait 
for  a  little  we  would  quickly 
give  him  a  reply.  I  withdrew 
apart  with  the  eight  Span- 
iards that  were  with  me  — 
they  were  brave  fellows — and 


78 


said  to  them  that  they  could 
see  clearly  all  the  trials  that 
we  had  passed,  and  that  one 
which  was  coming  upon  us, 
and  that  in  order  not  to  un- 
dergo more  it  was  better  to 
die  with  honour  once  for  all, 
and  since  we  had  a  fair  op- 
portunity we  should  not  wait 
longer,  nor  wander  fugitives 
over  the  mountains,  naked, 
barefoot,  in  the  freezing  cold, 
and  since  the  savage  had  re- 
solved to  abandon  his  castle, 
we  nine  Spaniards  who  were 
there  should  merrily  throw 
ourselves  into  it,  and  defend 
it  to  death.  This  we  could 
well  do  against  twice  as 


feetfet  of  Captain  Cueffar  79 

strong  a  force  as  that  which 
was  coming,  for  the  castle 
was  very  stout,  and  very  hard 
to  take  unless  they  should 
bombard  it  with  artillery;  for 
it  is  built  on  a  deep  lake 
more  than  a  league  wide  in 
some  places,  and  three  or 
four  leagues  long,  and  has 
an  outlet  to  the  sea,  but 
even  when  this  is  swollen  by 
spring  tides  there  is  no  pas- 
sage there.  For  this  reason 
the  castle  is  safe  from  attack, 
and  is  inaccessible  both  by 
water  and  by  the  strip  of  land 
that  runs  up  to  it,  because 
for  a  league  around  the  vil- 
lage, which  is  built  on  solid 


8o 


ground,  lies  a  marsh  deep  as 
a  man's  chest,  so  that  even 
the  inhabitants  cannot  get  to 
it  except  by  certain  paths. 
Having  well  considered  all 
this,  we  made  up  our  minds 
to  tell  the  savage  that  we 
would  man  the  castle  and  de- 
fend it  to  the  death,  and  we 
asked  him  to  furnish  it  as 
quickly  as  he  could  with  pro- 
visions for  six  months  and 
with  arms.  The  chieftain 
was  so  pleased  at  this  and  at 
our  courage  that  he  lost  no 
time  in  supplying  the  castle 
with  the  aid  of  the  chief  men 
of  the  village,  at  which  all 
were  much  gratified.  And 


feefter  of  Captain  Cueffar  8 1 

in  order  to  make  sure  that 
we  should  not  play  him  false, 
he  made  us  take  an  oath 
that  we  would  not  abandon 
his  castle  nor  surrender  it  to 
the  enemy  upon  any  terms 
or  conditions,  although  we 
should  starve  to  death,  and 
that  we  would  not  open  the 
gates  to  let  in  any  Irishman, 
or  Spaniard,  or  anybody  at  all, 
until  the  chief  should  return 
in  person,  as  he  made  no 
doubt  that  we  would  keep 
our  promise.  And  after  all 
the  necessary  things  had  been 
done,  we  put  the  ornaments 
and  fineries  from  the  church 
into  the  castle,  and  some  rel- 


82          JJjxmie0  ®rro&ba  £racf  0.  (fto.l 


ics  that  were  there,  and  also 
laid  in  three  or  four  boat- 
loads of  stones,  half  a  dozen 
muskets,  half  a  dozen  arque- 
buses, and  some  other  wea- 
pons. The  chief  embraced  us 
and  betook  himself  to  the 
mountains,  whither  his  peo- 
ple had  already  gone.  And 
straightway  word  went  all 
the  country  round  how  Man- 
glana's  castle  was  prepared 
for  defence  and  would  not 
surrender  to  the  enemy,  be- 
cause it  was  garrisoned  by 
a  Spanish  captain  and  some 
Spanish  soldiers  who  were  in 
it.  Everybody  admired  our 
courage,  and  the  enemy  was 


feeffer  of  Captain  Cueffar  83 

very  angry  at  what  we  had 
done,  and  marched  against 
the  castle  with  all  their  forces, 
some  eighteen  hundred  men, 
and  came  within  a  mile  and 
a  half  without  being  able  to 
draw  nearer  by  reason  of  the 
water  that  was  all  around  it. 
From  there  they  made  great 
threats  and  hanged  two  Span- 
iards, and  did  other  acts  of 
violence  in  order  to  scare  us. 
They  summoned  us  many 
times  by  a  trumpet  to  quit 
the  castle,  saying  they  would 
spare  our  lives  and  give  us 
safe  conduct  to  Spain.  We 
bade  them  come  nearer  the 
tower,  as  we  could  not  hear 


84 


them  plainly  ;  and  always 
showed  that  we  recked  little 
of  their  threats  and  promises. 
For  seventeen  days  we  were 
besieged.  God  was  pleased 
to  help  us,  and  delivered  us 
from  our  enemies  by  means 
of  terrible  storms  and  heavy 
snows  that  came  upon  them 
in  such  manner  that  they  were 
forced  to  raise  the  siege  and 
march  back  to  Duplin  (Dub- 
lin), where  the  Governor  had 
his  headquarters  and  garrison. 
From  thence  he  sent  us  a 
threatening  message  that  we 
had  better  look  out  for  our- 
selves and  not  fall  into  his 
hands,  and  that  he  should 


feeffet  of  Captain  Cueffar  85 

come  back  to  our  region  in 
good  time.  We  sent  him 
back  an  answer  that  made  us 
laugh,  and  also  our  chieftain, 
who  no  sooner  heard  that  the 
English  had  retreated  than  he 
returned  to  his  castle  and  en- 
joyed quiet  thereafter,  giving 
us  many  presents.  He  pro- 
claimed that  we  were  most 
loyal  friends,  and  offered  to 
put  all  that  was  his  at  our 
service,  and  the  chief  men  of 
the  country  did  the  like.  He 
would  have  given  me  his 
own  sister  in  marriage,  but  I 
thanked  him  very  much,  and 
contented  myself  with  asking 
for  guides  to  conduct  me 


86 


somewhere  where  I  could 
find  means  of  getting  across 
to  Scotland.  He  would  not 
give  me,  nor  any  of  the  Span- 
ish there,  leave  to  go,  saying 
that  the  roads  were  not  safe. 
I  did  not  relish  such  exces- 
sive friendship,  and  so  made 
up  my  mind  secretly,  with 
four  of  the  soldiers  that  were 
under  my  command,  to  set 
out  in  the  morning,  two  hours 
before  daybreak,  so  that  no 
one  should  stop  our  going.  I 
was  the  more  determined  be- 
cause the  day  before  one  of 
Manglana's  sons  had  told  me 
that  his  father  would  not  let 
me  leave  the  castle  till  the 


feetter  of  Captain  £ueffar 


King  of  Spain  sent  soldiers 
after  me,  and  that  he  intended 
to  imprison  me  so  that  I 
should  not  escape.  At  this 
news  I  accoutred  myself  as 
best  I  could,  and  started  off 
with  those  four  soldiers  one 
morning  ten  days  after  Christ- 
mas in  the  year  '88,  and  I 
went  on  journeying  over 
mountains  and  through  waste 
places,  with  great  hardships, 
as  God  knows.  After  travel- 
ling twenty  days,  I  reached 
the  coast  where  Alonso  de 
Ley  va,  Count  de  Paredes,  and 
Don  Tomas  de  Granvela  had 
been  wrecked,  besides  so 
many  other  gentlemen  that  a 


88  Jxmi00    rmaba  £rocf  0.    fto.l 


roll  of  paper  would  be  needed 
to  give  a  list  of  them.  I  went 
about  among  the  huts  of  some 
savages  that  dwelt  hard  by, 
and  they  told  me  most  pitiful 
tales  of  our  people  who  had 
been  drowned  there,  and  they 
showed  me  many  ornaments 
and  rich  garments  that  had 
belonged  to  them,  at  which  I 
felt  great  grief,  and  all  the 
'more  because  I  did  not  find 
any  boat  in  which  I  could 
embark  to  go  to  Scotland. 
But  one  day  they  told  me 
about  a  part  of  the  country 
that  belonged  to  a  savage 
who  called  himself  the  Prince 
of  Ocan,  where  there  were 


feett er  of  Capf  am  £ucffar 


some  vessels  bound  for  Scot- 
land. I  journeyed  there, crawl- 
ing along  the  ground,  for  I 
could  not  walk  owing  to  the 
wound  on  my  leg;  and  as  it 
was  a  matter  of  life  and  death 
to  me,  I  put  all  there  was  in 
me  into  going  on ;  but  though 
I  got  there  as  quick  as  I  could, 
the  vessels  had  already  sailed 
two  days  before.  This  was 
no  small  grief  to  me,  for  I  was 
in  a  wretched  part  of  the 
country  surrounded  by  ene- 
mies, as  there  were  many 
English  stationed  at  that  har- 
bour, and  every  day  they  paid 
a  visit  to  The  Ocan.  At  this 
time  I  was  attacked  with  great 


90 


pain  in  my  leg,  so  that  I  could 
not  bear  my  weight  on  it  at 
all,  and  the  people  warned 
me  to  be  on  the  lookout,  for 
there  were  many  English 
there  who  would  do  me  great 
harm,  as  they  had  done  to 
other  Spaniards,  if  they  should 
catch  me,  and  especially  if 
they  found  out  who  I  was.  I 
did  not  know  what  to  do,  for 
the  soldiers  who  came  with 
me  had  already  left  me  and 
had  gone  to  another  harbour 
further  on  to  look  for  a  ship, 
but  some  women,  who  saw 
that  I  was  weak  and  forsaken, 
had  compassion  on  me,  and 
took  me  to  their  cabins  in  the 


feetf er  of  Captain  Cueff at  9 1 

mountains,  and  there  they 
kept  me  for  more  than  a 
month  and  a  half,  well 
guarded,  and  took  such  good 
care  of  me  that  my  wound 
healed,  and  I  felt  in  good  con- 
dition to  go  to  The  Ocan's 
village  to  have  an  interview 
with  him;  but  he  would  nei- 
ther hear  me  nor  see  me,  and 
I  was  told  that  he  had  pledged 
his  word  to  the  Queen's  Lord 
Governor  not  to  keep  any 
Spaniards  in  his  territory,  nor 
to  suffer  any  to  go  over  it. 
After  that  the  English  who 
were  stationed  there  marched 
off  to  make  an  attack  upon 
some  place,  and  The  Ocan 


92 


went  with  them,  taking  all 
his  fighting  men,  so  that  I 
was  free  to  wander  about  the 
village,  which  was  made  of 
thatched  houses.  There  were 
some  very  pretty  girls  there 
with  whom  I  was  on  friendly 
terms,  and  I  used  to  go  into 
their  houses  sometimes  to 
gossip,  until  one  evening  two 
young  Englishmen  came  in 
there.  One  of  them  was  a 
sergeant  and  knew  of  me  by 
name,  but  had  never  seen  me. 
They  sat  down  and  asked  me 
if  I  was  not  a  Spaniard,  and 
what  I  was  doing  there.  I 
said  yes,  and  that  I  was  one 
of  the  soldiers  in  the  com- 


feettet  of  Captain  £ueff at  9  3 

mand  of  Don  Alonso  de  Lu- 
900,  who  had  surrendered  to 
the  English  not  long  before, 
and  that  by  reason  of  a  wound 
in  my  leg  I  had  not  been  able 
to  leave  that  place,  and  that 
I  was  at  their  service  and 
ready  to  do  whatever  they 
should  be  pleased  to  com- 
mand. They  bade  me  wait 
for  them  a  little  while,  for  I 
must  go  with  them  to  the 
city  of  Dublin,  where  there 
were  many  Spanish  gentle- 
men of  rank  in  prison.  I  said 
that  I  could  not  walk,  and 
they  sent  in  quest  of  a  horse 
to  carry  me,  and  I  told  them 
that  I  was  very  content  to  do 


94 


their  pleasure  and  to  go  with 
them.  They  entertained  no 
suspicion  of  this,  and  began 
to  flirt  with  the  girls.  Then 
the  mother  of  these  girls 
made  signs  to  me  to  go  out 
by  the  door,  which  I  did  with 
great  agility,  and  made  off, 
bounding  down  a  ravine  until 
I  got  into  some  thick  briers, 
and  I  pushed  through  these 
till  the  castle  of  The  Ocan 
was  lost  to  sight.  I  went  on 
in  this  way  until  nightfall, 
when  I  came  to  a  large  lake, 
and  on  the  bank  I  saw  a 
herd  of  cows.  I  went  toward 
them  to  see  if  there  were  any- 
body there  who  could  tell  me 


where  I  was,  and  I  met  two 
young  savages  who  were  on 
their  way  to  round  up  the 
cows  and  drive  them  high  up 
on  the  mountains,  where  they 
and  their  fathers  had  taken 
refuge  for  fear  of  the  English. 
I  spent  two  days  there  with 
them,  and  they  showed  me 
great  hospitality.  It  was  ne- 
cessary for  one  of  the  boys  to 
go  to  the  Prince  of  Ocan's 
village  to  learn  the  news,  and 
there  he  saw  those  two  Eng- 
lishmen, who  were  going 
about  in  great  rage  looking 
for  me,  for  some  one  had 
given  them  some  information 
about  me,  and  they  asked 


96          J£panfe0  grmata  £rocf  0.   (tto.l 


every  one  who  went  by  if 
they  had  seen  me.  The  boy 
was  such  a  good  fellow  that 
he  returned  to  the  hut  and 
warned  me  of  what  was  hap- 
pening, and  I  felt  it  necessary 
for  me  to  leave  them  very 
early  in  the  morning  to  travel 
in  search  of  a  bishop  who 
lived  seven  leagues  from  there 
in  a  castle,  whither  he  had 
fled  to  seek  refuge  from  the 
English.  This  bishop  was  a 
very  good  Christian.  He  used 
to  go  about  dressed  as  a  sav- 
age in  order  not  to  be  discov- 
ered, and  I  assure  your  Majesty 
that  I  could  not  hold  back  my 
tears  when  I  went  up  to  him 


feett et  of  Captain  Cuef f ar  9  7 

and  kissed  his  hand.  He 
had  twelve  Spaniards  with 
him,  meaning  to  help  them  to 
cross  over  to  Scotland,  and  he 
was  greatly  pleased  at  my 
coming,  especially  when  the 
soldiers  told  him  that  I  was  a 
captain.  During  the  six  days 
that  1  was  with  him  he 
showed  me  all  the  hospitality 
he  could,  and  had  a  small 
boat  come  with  all  prepara- 
tions to  take  us  over  to  Scot- 
land, which  trip  was  com- 
monly made  in  two  days.  He 
gave  us  supplies  for  the  sea, 
and  said  mass  in  the  castle, 
and  spoke  with  me  about 
some  matters  concerning  the 


loss  of  the  kingdom,  and  how 
much  your  Majesty  had 
helped  them,  and  that  I 
should  try  to  go  to  Spain  as 
fast  as  I  could  after  landing 
in  Scotland,  where  he  ad- 
vised me  to  live  with  great 
patience,  because  almost  all 
the  people  there  were  Protes- 
tants, and  very  few  Catho- 
lics. The  bishop's  name  was 
Don  Reimundo  Termi  [?], 
Bishop  of  Times  [?],  a  noble 
and  righteous  man.  May 
God  keep  him  in  his  protec- 
tion, and  deliver  him  from  his 
enemies.  On  the  same  day 
on  the  morning  of  which  I 
reached  the  coast,  I  put  to 


feetter  of  Captain  £ueffar  99 

sea  in  a  wretched  pinnace  in 
which  there  were  eighteen 
of  us,  and  that  same  day  the 
wind  was  contrary,  and  we 
were  obliged  by  God's  mercy 
to  run  before  it  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Shetland  [?  Hebri- 
des], where  we  reached  land 
in  the  morning,  our  boat 
almost  full  of  water  and  the 
mainsail  torn.  We  went 
ashore  and  gave  thanks  to 
God  for  the  mercies  that  he 
had  shown  us  in  bringing  us 
there  alive;  and  from  there, 
after  two  days  of  good  wea- 
ther, we  began  our  voyage  to 
Scotland,  which  we  reached 
in  three  days,  not  without 


ioo 


danger  because  the  leaky 
boat  took  in  so  much  water. 
I  praised  God  that  He  had 
plucked  us  out  of  so  many 
great  dangers  and  had  brought 
me  to  a  land  where  I  might 
perhaps  find  better  safety,  for 
we  were  told  that  the  King 
of  Scotland  would  receive  all 
the  Spaniards  that  came  to 
his  kingdom,  and  would  give 
them  clothes  and  ships,  so 
that  they  might  go  home  to 
Spain.  But  everything  was 
just  the  contrary,  for  he  did 
not  help  any  one,  nor  did  he 
give  away  a  crown  in  alms, 
in  spite  of  the  great  need 
among  those  who  had  come 


feefter  of  Captain  Cueffar  i  o  i 

to  his  kingdom.  We  had 
gone  to  Scotland  to  seek 
safety  and  a  way  of  getting 
to  Spain,  and  we  stayed  there 
for  more  than  six  months 
without  any  means,  in  just 
the  condition  that  we  had 
come  in  from  Ireland  and 
other  places.  1  rather  believe 
that  the  King  had  been  per- 
suaded on  the  part  of  the 
Queen  of  England  to  surren- 
der us  to  her,  and  if  the  Cath- 
olic lords  and  noblemen  of 
the  country— for  there  are 
many  of  them  and  very  no- 
ble gentlemen — had  not  es- 
poused our  cause  and  spoken 
in  our  behalf  to  the  King 


102 


1 


and  in  the  councils  that  were 
held  on  the  matter,  without 
doubt  we  should  have  been 
sold  and  delivered  to  the 
English.  For  the  King  of 
Scotland  is  nothing;  he  has 
no  authority,  nor  even  the  fig- 
ure of  a  king,  and  does  not 
stir  a  step  or  eat  a  mouthful 
but  by  the  Queen's  orders. 
And  thus  there  are  great  dis- 
sensions among  the  nobility, 
and  some  bear  no  good  will 
to  him,  but  wish  to  see  him 
out  of  the  way  and  your  Maj- 
esty seated  on  his  throne, 
that  you  may  establish  the 
Church  of  God,  which  is  in 
ruins  there.  This  they  said  to 


V 


feefter  of  Captain  Cueffar  103 

us  many  times  with  tears  in 
their  eyes,  hoping  that  they 
will  see  it  when  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  and  trusting  to  God 
that  it  may  be  soon.  And 
as  I  say,  these  noblemen  sup- 
ported us  all  the  time  we 
were  there,  and  gave  us  alms 
freely,  and  were  very  kind  to 
us,  entertaining  great  pity  for 
our  tribulations,  and  asked  us 
to  have  patience  and  be  long- 
suffering  with  the  people  that 
called  us  idolaters  and  bad 
Christians,  and  spoke  a  thou- 
sand insulting  things  to  us; 
for  if  any  one  should  make 
any  answer,  they  would  fall 
upon  him  and  kill  him.  It  was 


1 04         J£pani0$  ($rmafea  Bracts.   (tto,  1 

impossible  to  live  or  to  stay 
in  such  a  bad  kingdom  with 
such  a  bad  king.  \Tbe  manu- 
script here  is  torn  and  illegi- 
ble.'] .  .  .  A  special  messenger 
was  sent  to  the  Duke  of  Parma 
...  at  which  his  Highness, 
like  a  pious  prince,  was  much 
grieved,  and  with  great  dili- 
gence sought  to  help  us  ... 
to  the  King  that  he  should 
suffer  us  to  depart  freely  from 
the  country,  and  to  the  Cath- 
olics and  friends  great  grati- 
tude on  the  part  of  his 
Majesty,  together  with  very 
friendly  letters  from  him. 
There  was  a  Scotch  trader  in 
Flanders  who  came  forward 


feeftet  of  Cbptain  Cueftor  1 05 

and  agreed  with  his  Highness 
that  he  should  come  to  Scot- 
land for  us  and  take  us  on 
board  four  vessels,  with  all 
necessary  supplies,  and  con- 
vey us  to  Flanders,  and  his 
Highness  was  to  pay  five  du- 
cats for  each  Spaniard  that  he 
carried  to  Flanders.  The  bar- 
gain was  made  with  him,  and 
he  came  for  us  and  took  us 
aboard,  without  arms  and 
without  clothes  just  as  we 
were,  and  carried  us  past  the 
English  ports,  which  rendered 
our  passage  safe  from  all  the 
English  fleets  and  ships.  But 
this  did  us  no  good,  for  the 
English  had  made  terms  with 


106 


the  ships  of  Holland  and  Zea- 
land that  the  latter  should 
put  to  sea  and  lie  in  wait  for 
us  at  the  bar  off  Dunkirk,  and 
there  put  us  to  the  sword 
without  leaving  a  single  man 
alive.  And  this  the  Dutch- 
men did  according  to  orders, 
for  they  were  on  the  watch 
for  us  a  month  and  a  half  in 
the  port  of  Dunkirk,  and  there, 
if  God  had  not  helped  us, 
they  would  have  captured  us 
all.  But  God  willed  that  of  the 
four  vessels  in  which  we  came, 
two  should  escape.  These 
ran  ashore,  where  they  split 
and  were  wholly  wrecked, 
and  the  enemy,  seeing  the 


feetf  et  of  Captain  Cueflbr  1 07 

mode  of  escape  we  were  after, 
opened  a  cannonade  upon  us, 
so  that  we  were  obliged  to 
jump  into  the  water  and 
swim,  and  we  thought  to  die 
there.  They  could  not  put 
out  to  our  rescue  from  the 
port  of  Dunkirk  in  little  boats, 
because  the  enemy  kept  up 
such  a  brisk  fire.  Moreover, 
the  wind  and  waves  were 
very  high,  so  that  we  were  in 
the  greatest  danger  of  perish- 
ing to  a  man.  Nevertheless, 
we  kept  afloat  on  bits  of 
wood,  except  some  soldiers' 
who  were  drowned,  and  also 
a  Scotch  captain.  I  got  to 
land  in  my  shirt,  without  any 


io8 


other  clothes,  and  some  sol- 
diers from  Medina  [?]  who 
were  there  came  to  my  res- 
cue. It  was  pitiful  to  see  us 
enter  the  city  a  second  time 
naked  to  the  skin;  and  out 
to  sea  we  saw  under  our  very 
eyes  the  Dutch  killing  270 
Spaniards,  who  had  come  in 
the  ship  which  they  captured 
there  off  Dunkirk,  not  leaving 
but  three  alive.  They  are  al- 
ready paying  the  reckoning, 
however;  for  more  than  400 
Dutchmen  have  been  cap- 
tured since  then  and  have  had 
their  heads  chopped  off.  All 
this  I  have  made  bold  to  write 
to  your  Majesty. 


feeftet  of  Captain  Cueftor  1 09 

From  the  City  of  Antwerp, 
the  fourth  of  October,  in  the 
year  1589. 

FRANCISCO  DE  CUELLAR. 

[Academy  of  Hist.  Investigation, 
Salazar,  No.  7,  page  58.] 


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